Breaking Into Modern

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Introduction:

The cards above are easily the scariest staples of the Modern format. They vary in price from $35 all the way to nearly $200! Each of their prices are insanely bloated due too various factors. Some of them hold such high values simply because of supply and demand, whereas others shot up in price through speculation(Bitterblossom) or lucrative mass buyouts(Fulminator Mage). Even a few have the sad fate of seeing play in other formats such as Commander or Legacy(Grove of the Burnwillows) and their price has nothing to do with the Modern metagame. Regardless of why any of these cards are so expensive, the fact remains that they are, and it doesn’t look like their values are going to diminish any time soon.

Modern is a wonderful format and a great overall concept by Wizards of the Coast. When I read about Modern’s introduction it looked like the perfect stepping stone for steady Standard/FNM players to branch out into older eternal formats. Ideally once rotation came along Standard players wouldn’t feel as hurt by the loss of their playables, and their collections could easily translate into Modern. It’s a great concept and should in practice make sense, but there has recently formed a huge barrier in a player’s path towards older formats. That barrier is one of the main subjects of this article, price. As I see it, the extremely high value of some of the Modern staples has made it nearly impossible to reasonably get into the format without spending an arm and a leg. Even though buying into Modern is, for the most part, a worthwhile investment, it still doesn’t make up for its initial cost.

I’ve personally bought and traded in and out of Modern a few times with the season and my changing schedule, but I’m sad to admit that after the sudden spike in card prices I’ve become too discouraged to invest that amount of money again. I can safely assume I’m not alone in this disgruntled view on the format, and I hate seeing other players in our community being scared off by the cost of playing Magic: the Gathering. It’s unreasonable that a tier 1 deck should run you upwards of $1,200 – $2,000 dollars. Modern is an incredibly fun format and I really want to see it grow. In an attempt to see our Modern playerbase expand I’d like to spend the rest of this article covering various decks and archetypes that are fun, interactive, competitive, and mainly inexpensive when compared to the premiere decks in the format.

Budget Modern Decks:

The following decks are not polished by any means and are merely basic breakdowns of their play style and interactions. These should be used as inspiration and lead towards further development. Most of these decks aren’t going to be true budget builds. A budget competitive deck is not a luxury we have while playing Magic. The  more popular and playable a card is, the higher it’s value rises. This theory leads me to a concern I’d like to point out about the following decks. If any of these less expensive decks start to gain interest then you can assume that their prices will alter and start to increase. Keep that in mind when looking into building a Modern deck, the longer you wait, the harder and more expensive it might become.

Let’s jump right into the decks in no particular order!

Mono Red Burn: $100

Creatures: (12)
Goblin Guide
Spark Elemental
Hellspark Elemental

Spells: (28)
Lava Spike
Lightning Bolt
Shard Volley
Searing Blaze
Skullcrack
Flames of the Blood Hand
Rift Bolt

Lands: (20)
20 Mountain
Sideboard: (15)
Relic of Progenitus
Combust
Satyr Firedancer
Searing Blood
Smash to Smithereens
Flamebreak

I’m starting this list off with the most obvious suggestion. Historically, mono red aggressive decks have been really inexpensive. Despite how cheap they are, they tend to be very powerful strategies and can exist in any format. The game plan is always very straight forward, point and click. When your opponent goes from 20 to 0 life, you win the game. Not much else to explain about this archetype, and really that’s why you rarely see it. It can be fun for a few tournaments but it tends to become rather stale to play after a while. There are still players out there who swear by mono red and wouldn’t be caught dead playing anything else. Also, if you’re new to a format and don’t know all of the intricacies, then starting off with a simpler deck will normally lead towards a better initial performance.

Soul Sisters: $200

Creatures: (27)
Martyr of Sands
Serra Ascendant
Soul Warden
Soul’s Attendant
Ajani’s Pridemate
Squadron Hawk
Aven Mindcensor
Ranger of Eos

Spells: (10)
Brave the Elements
Path to Exile
Honor of the Pure
Spectral Procession

Lands: (23)
23 Plains
Sideboard: (15)
Ethersworn Canonist
Rest in Peace
Stony Silence
Suppression Field
Aven Mindcensor
Ghostly Prison
Rule of Law

Soul Sisters gets its name because of its two gain life female characters, Soul Warden and Soul’s Attendant. The deck gains large amounts of life through these two “sisters” along with other supporting cards. With your increased life total you can create a large version of either Ajani’s Pridemate or Serra Ascendant, and with those cards and the help of swarms of little creatures, you can start to take over a game and make it out of reach for your opponent. If you’re in a straight up race, you can rarely lose because of  your massive amounts of life gain.

Martyr-Proc: $350/$280 (w/o 4 Leyline of Sanctity)

Creatures: (20)
Figure of Destiny
Heap Doll
Kami of False Hope
Martyr of Sands
Serra Ascendant
Weathered Wayfarer
Squadron Hawk
Ranger of Eos

Spells: (16)
Path to Exile
Ghostly Prison
Oblivion Ring
Proclamation of Rebirth
Wrath of God

Lands: (24)
Bojuka Bog
Cavern of Souls
Emeria, the Sky Ruin
Flagstones of Trokair
Ghost Quarter
Mistveil Plains
10 Plains
Sideboard: (15)
Tormod’s Crypt
Stony Silence
Suppression Field
Oblivion Ring
Leyline of Sanctity

Martyr-Proc shares a lot of cards with Soul Sisters, but unlike Soul Sisters which is trying to use it’s life gain to win the game very fast, Martyr-Proc wants to play a long drawn out controlled game. By using the combination of Martyr of Sands with Proclamation of Rebirth, this deck plans to gain an unimaginably large amount of life. From here you can control the game and slowly try to win through recurring your best creatures with Proclamation of Rebirth or Emeria, the Sky Ruin. The games tend to go long but having inevitability against your opponent is a great thing. This deck is full of subtle interactions that are very important to learn if you choose to run it. I can’t get into all of them now but be sure to take the time to understand them all.

BW Tokens: $625/$400(w/o Fetch Lands)

Creatures: (4)
Tidehollow Sculler

Spells: (33)
Inquisition of Kozilek
Path to Exile
Thoughtseize
Gather the Townsfolk
Honor of the Pure
Intangible Virtue
Raise the Alarm
Zealous Persecution
Lingering Souls
Sword of Fire and Ice
Spectral Procession

Lands: (23)
Arid Mesa
Caves of Koilos
Fetid Heath
Godless Shrine
Isolated Chapel
Marsh Flats
Plains
Swamp
Windbrisk Heights
Sideboard: (15)
Engineered Explosives
Extirpate
Grafdigger’s Cage
Relic of Progenitus
Runed Halo
Stony Silence
Sundering Growth
Dismember
Memoricide

BW Tokens would have been a great choice as a deck to build, but recently Wizards released that they’re going to sell a complete 75 card BW Tokens deck. This is in attempt to make Modern more accessible and they chose the perfect deck to release to new Modern players. Hopefully the value of the deck will remain at MSRP and not be inflated. You can check out their offer here: Link. As for the deck itself, it’s a very fun and skill testing archetype. Any time you add discard effects and more choices per turn, the more interesting a deck becomes. You’re game plan is to disrupt your opponent’s hand while increasing your board presence and eventually overpower them with cost efficient tokens.  A full version of the deck includes 4-5 Zendikar Fetch Lands, which you’d really want to avoid if at all possible. If you do remove them it lowers the cost of BW Tokens by a large chunk. Those land slots can be easily replaced by other B/W hybrid lands. More Isolated Chapel and Caves of Koilos would be my easy suggestion.

GW Hate Bears: $425

Creatures: (29)
Birds of Paradise
Gaddock Teeg
Leonin Arbiter
Qasali Pridemage
Scavenging Ooze
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
Aven Mindcensor
Blade Splicer
Flickerwisp
Loxodon Smiter
Restoration Angel

Spells: (9)
AEther Vial
Path to Exile
Sword of Fire and Ice

Lands: (22)
Forest
Gavony Township
Ghost Quarter
Plains
Razorverge Thicket
Stirring Wildwood
Tectonic Edge
Temple Garden
Sideboard: (15)
Back to Nature
Ethersworn Canonist
Kavu Predator
Rest in Peace
Stony Silence
Dismember
Harmonic Sliver
Sword of Light and Shadow
Creeping Corrosion

GW Hate Bears is really great because its plan in part is to punish players for using Fetch Lands with Leonin Arbiter. Because it’s running the Arbiter, the deck can’t run Fetch Lands of its own and it helps to keep the price of the deck down. Some versions also play Noble Hierarch, but that card is on the “no no” list and if you added a playset of those it would increase the value of the deck by $240 dollars. The deck itself is very fun. Similar to the discard in BW Tokens, GW wants to advance its board while making life difficult for your opponent. It blows up their lands, makes it harder to search, and forces their spells to cost more, all while bashing them in the face with aggressive duders.

Mono W Hate Bears: $350

Creatures: (28)
Dryad Militant
Leonin Arbiter
Serra Avenger
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
Aven Mindcensor
Blade Splicer
Fiend Hunter
Flickerwisp
Kitchen Finks
Mirran Crusader
Hero of Bladehold
Restoration Angel

Spells: (10)
AEther Vial
Path to Exile
Sword of Fire and Ice
Sword of War and Peace

Lands: (22)
Eiganjo Castle
Ghost Quarter
15 Plains
Tectonic Edge
Sideboard: (15)
Disenchant
Grand Abolisher
Kor Firewalker
Rest in Peace
Stony Silence
Sword of Light and Shadow
Day of Judgment

Here’s a variation of GW Hate Bears that only consists of White cards. It has the same style of play but is a little cheaper to build.

Mono White Stax: $300

Creatures: (1)
Heliod, God of the Sun

Spells: (36)
Porphyry Nodes
Rest in Peace
Runed Halo
Suppression Field
Ghostly Prison
Nevermore
Oblivion Ring
Endless Horizons
Leyline of Sanctity
Sigil of the Empty Throne
Sphere of Safety

Lands: (23)
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
12 Plains
Temple of Enlightenment
Temple of Silence
Sideboard: (15)
Kataki, War’s Wage
Rest in Peace
Stony Silence
Timely Reinforcements
Supreme Verdict

Stax decks derive their name from Smokestack, which was a card used in older formats to lock a player out of a game by destroying all of their permanents. This deck has the same general idea but to a lesser extent. The goal is to make life hard for your opponent. Runed Halo and Nevermore are used to stop their key cards, Ghostly Prison and Sphere of Safety stop their creatures, and Suppression Field and Leyline of Sanctity stop their deck from functioning. You want to bring your opponent to a grinding halt and then kill them with Sigil of the Empty Throne(one of my favorite cards of all time), or Heliod, God of the Sun.

UW Control: $450

Creatures: (9)
Snapcaster Mage
Wall of Omens
Aven Mindcensor
Restoration Angel

Spells: (26)
Path to Exile
Repeal
Serum Visions
Spell Snare
Mana Leak
Detention Sphere
Jace Beleren
Elspeth, Knight-Errant
Supreme Verdict
Batterskull
Gideon Jura

Lands: (25)
Celestial Colonnade
Glacial Fortress
Hallowed Fountain
Island
Plains
Seachrome Coast
Tectonic Edge
Sideboard: (15)
Dispel
Grafdigger’s Cage
Celestial Flare
Meddling Mage
Negate
Rest in Peace
Stony Silence
Aven Mindcensor
Supreme Verdict

Keeping with the control theme, here is classic Blue White Control. Just like Mono Red Burn, UW Control has always been and will always be a staple of constructed Magic. The combination of blue counter magic with white removal is a perfect recipe for victory. This is the true control deck. What you want to do is counter their important spells, kill their threatening creatures, and finish them off swiftly with resilient threats such as Gideon Jura or Celestial Colonnade. If I were to change anything about this list, I’d like to add another Colonnade and possibly a Mutavault or two. You’ll also see versions of this deck that are a lot more expensive in large part due to the inclusion of Cryptic Command($55). Some variants also include red into the deck but then you’re looking to add Arid Mesa and Scalding Tarn, which is an extra $560 bucks.

Mono U Tron: $200

Creatures: (8)
Treasure Mage
Solemn Simulacrum
Wurmcoil Engine
Platinum Angel
Sundering Titan

Spells: (29)
Condescend
Expedition Map
Repeal
Spell Burst
Cyclonic Rift
Remand
Talisman of Dominance
Fabricate
Oblivion Stone
Thirst for Knowledge
Mindslaver

Lands: (23)
Academy Ruins
Island
Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
Tectonic Edge
Urza’s Mine
Urza’s Power Plant
Urza’s Tower
Sideboard: (15)
Relic of Progenitus
Repeal
Spell Pierce
Squelch
Dismember
Trinket Mage
AEtherize

U Tron is one of my favorite decks. It’s a simple idea but when it works it’s tremendously fun. Like other Tron decks you’ll see, you’re goal is to assemble “Urza Tron”, or get at least one copy of Urza’s Mine, Urza’s Power Plant, and Urza’s Tower into play. Once you’ve done this you can go crazy with your massive amounts of mana and play really fun huge spells. This deck gets to cast Wurmcoil Engine, Platinum Angel and Sundering Titan. The most common way to win is to get 13 mana each turn and infinitely loop Mindslaver with Academy Ruins and lock your opponent out of them game, forcing them to draw their whole deck or kill themselves some other way.

Mono G(Colorless) Tron: $640

Creatures: (6)
Spellskite
Sundering Titan
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

Spells: (36)
Mishra’s Bauble
Ancient Stirrings
Chromatic Sphere
Chromatic Star
Expedition Map
Gitaxian Probe
Sylvan Scrying
Oblivion Stone
Mindslaver
Karn Liberated

Lands: (18)
Buried Ruin
Cavern of Souls
Eye of Ugin
Forest
Ghost Quarter
Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
Urza’s Mine
Urza’s Power Plant
Urza’s Tower
Sideboard: (15)
Grafdigger’s Cage
Spellskite
Wurmcoil Engine
All Is Dust
Platinum Angel
Sundering Titan

Here’s a different version of Tron that has removed all of the filler cards and focuses more around just assembling Tron and forcing huge monsters out onto the field. This deck gets to play the real fatties of the format in Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre and Emrakul, the Aeons Torn. You’ll probably notice that the price tag for this deck is much higher than most that I’ll show you today. It’s playing a full playset of Karn Liberated which is roughly $200 dollars of the total value but is a very important part of the deck. I wouldn’t recommend this deck as a real budget Modern deck but when looking at some of the other high end decks out there it still pales in comparison. It’s also worth noting that there is another Tron deck that uses red and green and needs to run 4 Grove of the Burnwillows for efficient mana and hikes the price up another $180.

Mono G Devotion: $500/$330(w/o 3 Fetch Lands)

Creatures: (23)
Arbor Elf
Birds of Paradise
Joraga Treespeaker
Burning-Tree Emissary
Eternal Witness
Wistful Selkie
Primeval Titan
Craterhoof Behemoth

Spells: (16)
Abundant Growth
Utopia Sprawl
Genesis Wave
Garruk Wildspeaker
Primal Command
Karn Liberated

Lands: (21)
11 Forest
Kessig Wolf Run
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
Stomping Ground
Verdant Catacombs
Sideboard: (15)
Ghost Quarter
Nature’s Claim
Ancient Grudge
Combust
Scavenging Ooze
Spellskite
Vexing Shusher
Beast Within
Dismember
Creeping Corrosion
Thrun, the Last Troll

First off I’d remove the Verdant Catacombs and save yourself a bunch of money. This deck is splashing red for a few cards but they’re not 100% necessary for the deck to function. Like devotion decks in Standard, Mono G Devotion is looking to play a lot of green permanents and ramp up every turn until you can start playing huge spells before your opponent has developed a board. I have never played this deck and I’ve only seen it once in person, but any deck that looks to kill its opponent with Craterhoof Behemoth is doing it right. It looks like a very fun deck and its wise to keep in mind how easy it is to win with  Garruk Wildspeaker‘s ultimate.

Amulet of Vigor Ramp:$400

Creatures: (8)
Azusa, Lost but Seeking
Oracle of Mul Daya
Primeval Titan

Spells: (23)
Pact of Negation
Slaughter Pact
Summoner’s Pact
Amulet of Vigor
Serum Visions
Summer Bloom
Hive Mind

Lands: (29)
Boros Garrison
Cavern of Souls
Forest
Gemstone Mine
Ghost Quarter
Golgari Rot Farm
Gruul Turf
Inkmoth Nexus
Kabira Crossroads
Khalni Garden
Selesnya Sanctuary
Simic Growth Chamber
Slayers’ Stronghold
Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
Tendo Ice Bridge
Tolaria West
Vesuva
Sideboard: (15)
Bojuka Bog
Chalice of the Void
Engineered Explosives
Seal of Primordium
Chromatic Lantern
Firespout
Harmonic Sliver
Thragtusk

We have another Primeval Titan ramp deck. This one wants to abuse the Ravnica “bounce” lands with Amulet of Vigor to start to and generate a lot of mana. Using Primeval Titan‘s come into play trigger you can find lands such as Boros Garrison and Slayer’s Stronghold, have them both come into play untapped with Amulet of Vigor, and then give your Titan haste and attack again for another set of search triggers. The combination of cards you can search for is very involved and this is another deck that you have to sit down and learn all of the intricacies before bringing it to an event. It also has an alternate win condition with Hive Mind and any Pact. Hive Mind forces your opponent to cast the same spells as you and with the various Pacts they’ll be forced to pay the upkeep cost, and if they can not then they lose the game on the spot.

UR Storm: $220

Creatures: (4)
Goblin Electromancer

Spells: (40)
Gitaxian Probe
Serum Visions
Sleight of Hand
Thought Scour
Desperate Ravings
Desperate Ritual
Grapeshot
Manamorphose
Pyretic Ritual
Pyromancer Ascension
Past in Flames

Lands: (16)
Island
Mountain
Shivan Reef
Steam Vents
Sulfur Falls
Sideboard: (15)
Lightning Bolt
Vandalblast
Combust
Defense Grid
Echoing Truth
Anger of the Gods
Empty the Warrens

Now lets look at a series of other strange combo decks. First off is UR Storm. Like traditional storm decks it wants to cast several spells in conjunction during one turn to build up its “storm count” and then finish off its opponent with a large Grapeshot or Empty the Warrens. One of the easiest way to build up your storm count is to turn on a Pyromancer Ascension and get double the effect per card. This well help you generate more mana and draw more cards and in part get your storm count higher with ease. Another alternative is to cast several mana spells and draw spells, then follow it up with a Past in Flames. You can now cast your spells again from the graveyard and get your storm count within lethal range.

Ad Nauseam Unlife: $320

Creatures: (4)
Simian Spirit Guide

Spells: (36)
Lotus Bloom
Pact of Negation
Slaughter Pact
Angel’s Grace
Conjurer’s Bauble
Serum Visions
Sleight of Hand
Disperse
Peer Through Depths
Pentad Prism
Lightning Storm
Phyrexian Unlife
Mystical Teachings
Ad Nauseam

Lands: (20)
Boseiju, Who Shelters All
Darkslick Shores
Gemstone Mine
Godless Shrine
Hallowed Fountain
Island
Marsh Flats
Plains
Seachrome Coast
Swamp
Watery Grave
Sideboard: (15)
Ancient Grudge
Angelic Wall
Disperse
Doom Blade
Essence Scatter
Negate
Rest in Peace
Act of Treason

Ad Nauseam Unlife is probably going to be the strangest deck I go over in this article. To put it simply, you want to hit a certain amount of mana where you can cast Ad Nauseam either with Angel’s Grace or with a Phyrexian Unlife in play. Then you draw your whole deck off of Ad Nauseam and cast Lightning Storm with the help of Simian Spirit Guide, then discard lands to Lightning Storm and shoot your opponent in the face. The deck has a lot of build up before you get to that point but once you’re there it’s very hard to lose.

Living End: $400/$175(w/o 4 Fetch Lands)

Creatures: (24)
Architects of Will
Avalanche Riders
Deadshot Minotaur
Monstrous Carabid
Shriekmaw
Street Wraith
Pale Recluse
Jungle Weaver

Spells: (16)
Living End
Beast Within
Demonic Dread
Violent Outburst

Lands: (20)
Dryad Arbor
Blackcleave Cliffs
Blood Crypt
Copperline Gorge
Forest
Mountain
Overgrown Tomb
Plains
Stomping Ground
Swamp
Verdant Catacombs
Sideboard: (15)
Faerie Macabre
Leyline of the Void
Wild Ricochet
Ingot Chewer
Shriekmaw

Living End is a very straight shooting combo deck. It’s incredibly resilient and a lot of fun. Your goal is to discard a ton of creatures into your graveyard then play a cascade spell(Demonic Dread/Violent Outburst) and cascade into Living End. Via the cascade mechanic you can cast Living End for free and destroy all creatures in play and replace them with your graveyard full of monsters. The Verdant Catacombs probably aren’t too important for the mana, and would save you a chunk of money on the deck.

Restore Balance: $600/$350(w/o 4 Fetch Lands)/$280 (w/o 4 Leyline of Sanctity)

Creatures: (20)
Simian Spirit Guide
Keldon Halberdier
Riftwing Cloudskate
Errant Ephemeron
Greater Gargadon

Spells: (15)
Restore Balance
Ardent Plea
Thieves’ Fortune
Violent Outburst

Lands: (25)
Breeding Pool
Copperline Gorge
Gemstone Mine
Hallowed Fountain
Island
Mountain
Razorverge Thicket
Sacred Foundry
Scalding Tarn
Seachrome Coast
Steam Vents
Stomping Ground
Sideboard: (15)
Boom // Bust
Leyline of Sanctity
Ricochet Trap
Ingot Chewer

Another cascade style deck. This time instead of cascading into Living End, this deck wants to abuse Restore Balance. The game plan is to suspend lots of creatures from your hand and decrease your handsize. Then with the help of Greater Gargadon, sacrifice your lands in play, now with your floating mana cast a cascade spell and run into Restore Balance. Your opponent’s board will have to be sacrificed to match your own and once they have nothing out then your spells will start to unsuspend and take over the game. Once again just like Living End, you can cut the Fetch lands from the deck and save so much money.

KCI: $200/$130 (w/o 4 Leyline of Sanctity)

Creatures: (5)
Etherium Sculptor
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

Spells: (38)
Banefire
Chromatic Sphere
Chromatic Star
Conjurer’s Bauble
Expedition Map
Elsewhere Flask
Ichor Wellspring
Prophetic Prism
Fabricate
Faith’s Reward
Krark-Clan Ironworks
Open the Vaults
Spine of Ish Sah

Lands: (17)
Adarkar Wastes
Plains
Urza’s Mine
Urza’s Power Plant
Urza’s Tower
Sideboard: (15)
Nihil Spellbomb
Pithing Needle
Defense Grid
Disenchant
Grapeshot
Oblivion Ring
Leyline of Sanctity

KCI or Krark-clan Ironworks is a really fun deck. It centers around the mana producing power of KCI and the recursion from Open the Vaults. Through sacrificing artifacts , drawing cards, and bringing them back into play, you start to generate a lot of mana. Once you have enough mana you can cast a lethal Banefire or slam an Emrakul, the Aeons Torn into them. Unlike it’s predecessor, Eggs, this deck doesn’t need to draw through its whole library to create an infinite loop. It just needs to get enough mana to win. Also, because it plays Open the Vaults, it doesn’t need to win in one big long turn.

 Robots(Affinity): $625

Creatures: (26)
Memnite
Ornithopter
Signal Pest
Arcbound Ravager
Steel Overseer
Vault Skirge
Etched Champion
Master of Etherium

Spells: (18)
Mox Opal
Welding Jar
Galvanic Blast
Springleaf Drum
Cranial Plating
Thoughtcast

Lands: (16)
Blinkmoth Nexus
Darksteel Citadel
Glimmervoid
Inkmoth Nexus
Island
Sideboard: (15)
Galvanic Blast
Relic of Progenitus
Spell Pierce
Thoughtseize
Ancient Grudge
Spellskite
Torpor Orb
Whipflare
Blood Moon
Etched Champion

Robots is another stretch on the price barrier but it’s still a deck worth looking at. This is the combination of several different artifact-based aggro decks from the last ten years of Magic. It’s very fast and very aggressive, which makes it such a powerful deck. If Mox Opal wasn’t so important to the consistency and explosiveness of the deck then you could save a lot of money when building it. Mox Opal currently costs $60 dollars, making the set $240 of the $625 price. If you’re fearless and want to try and make Robots on a budget then please trailblaze the way for the rest of us!

Skred Red: $280

Creatures: (11)
Boros Reckoner
Magus of the Moon
Simian Spirit Guide
Stormbreath Dragon

Spells: (26)
Lightning Bolt
Relic of Progenitus
Skred
Mind Stone
Pyroclasm
Blood Moon
Volcanic Fallout
Koth of the Hammer

Lands: (23)
Scrying Sheets
21 Snow-Covered Mountain
Sideboard: (15)
Pyrite Spellbomb
Relic of Progenitus
Shattering Spree
Combust
Shattering Blow
Molten Rain
Shatterstorm
Blasphemous Act

Skred Red is a big red control deck. It has lots of removal and powerful creatures. One angle that Skred attacks its opponent it through their manabase. Using cards like Magus of the Moon and Blood Moon you hope to lock your opponent out of colored mana. You can catch a lot of deck off guard in game one and get a few free wins this way. Past that the deck gets to play Koth of the Hammer, which is an easy to ultimate Planeswalker with an almost unbeatable ability. Another fun interaction with this version of Skred Red is to Skred your own Boros Reckoner and deal tons of damage! It’s good to see a big red deck exist in a fast format and I think this one can be very competitive against the majority of the field.

UR Delver: $315

Creatures: (14)
Delver of Secrets
Grim Lavamancer
Snapcaster Mage
Young Pyromancer

Spells: (28)
Gitaxian Probe
Lightning Bolt
Pillar of Flame
Serum Visions
Spell Pierce
Spell Snare
Vapor Snag
Mana Leak
Electrolyze

Lands: (18)
Island
Mountain
Shivan Reef
Steam Vents
Sulfur Falls
Sideboard: (15)
Dispel
Shattering Spree
Combust
Blood Moon
Counterflux
Molten Rain
Sulfur Elemental

Delver decks have always been really interesting and skill testing tempo decks. You rarely get free wins and every win you do get comes from intense/intelligent play. That being said, I find them really fun to pilot. Like I mentioned earlier, the more options you have in a game of Magic the more fun I find the deck to be. This deck has a plethora of cheap spells and cheap creatures that help you gain advantage over your opponent’s more expensive, possibly slower cards.  Lots of counter magic and lots of burn make this deck a blast to play.

Merfolk: $450

Creatures: (26)
Cursecatcher
Lord of Atlantis
Master of the Pearl Trident
Phantasmal Image
Silvergill Adept
Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
Merrow Reejerey
Master of Waves

Spells: (14)
AEther Vial
Spell Pierce
Vapor Snag
Spreading Seas

Lands: (20)
16 Island
Mutavault
Sideboard: (15)
Grafdigger’s Cage
Relic of Progenitus
Spell Pierce
Swan Song
Dismember
Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
Master of Waves

Merfolk is a port from Legacy that happened to keep the majority of its cards in Modern. Like most blue aggro decks the goal is to rush the board with creatures and then defend them through counter magic. Merfolks tend to grow rapidly in size and outclass most creatures within a couple turns. The islandwalk ability your “fish” will gain seems trivial against most decks until you slam a Spreading Seas on your opponent’s land and swim over for the win. I like getting to play Kira, Great Glass-Spinner in a deck because it’s such a risk free play that defends your team so well.

UG Infect: $190

Creatures: (12)
Glistener Elf
Blighted Agent
Ichorclaw Myr

Spells: (28)
Distortion Strike
Gitaxian Probe
Groundswell
Might of Old Krosa
Mutagenic Growth
Rancor
Vines of Vastwood
Apostle’s Blessing

Lands: (20)
Breeding Pool
Forest
Hinterland Harbor
Inkmoth Nexus
Island
Yavimaya Coast
Sideboard: (15)
Dispel
Gitaxian Probe
Nature’s Claim
Ranger’s Guile
Alpha Authority
Apostle’s Blessing
Spellskite

Mono G Infect: $90

Creatures: (12)
Glistener Elf
Ichorclaw Myr
Necropede

Spells: (26)
Groundswell
Might of Old Krosa
Mutagenic Growth
Rancor
Vines of Vastwood
Apostle’s Blessing
Livewire Lash

Lands: (22)
Cathedral of War
12 Forest
Inkmoth Nexus
Pendelhaven
Sideboard: (15)
Tormod’s Crypt
Gut Shot
Nature’s Claim
Ranger’s Guile

I’m going to lump these two infect decks together because they operate the same way. Play a cheap creature with infect, get into the red zone and pump it up! Get your opponent from 0 to 10 poison and you win the game. These decks are often very strong against slower control decks and combo decks. They tend to be too cheap and fast for control and a turn faster than most combo decks. I also really like them because they can ignore the life gain decks of the format by attack from a completely different dimension.  Playing infect requires more skill then you would think, if you misuse your resources you can run out of gas very fast. Pick your battles wisely and you can get through any defense.

Mono B Infect: $150

Creatures: (8)
Phyrexian Crusader
Phyrexian Vatmother

Spells: (30)
Disfigure
Funeral Charm
Inquisition of Kozilek
Raven’s Crime
Devour Flesh
Doom Blade
Go for the Throat
Runechanter’s Pike
Sign in Blood
Wrench Mind
Beseech the Queen

Lands: (22)
Howltooth Hollow
Inkmoth Nexus
13 Swamp
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Sideboard: (15)
Illness in the Ranks
Nihil Spellbomb
Drown in Sorrow
Vampire Nighthawk
Lashwrithe
Mutilate

The last deck I’ll show you today is Mono Black Infect. It’s an infect deck coming from the opposite end of the spectrum as the ones above. Instead of try to bash through and end the game really fast, this deck is looking to eliminate its opponent’s resources until it can slowly start swinging for huge chunks of infect damage. The 16 discard spells destroy your opponent’s hand and you can start to gain control easily from there.

 

Conclusion:

Hopefully those of you who are looking to get into Modern gained some inspiration from these decks. I hope to see the community grow to its full potential and I know there are a lot of you out there itchying to try out Modern! I’m going to battle with a few of these lists, and see if I can take down a couple tournaments with the budget side of the format. If you have any awesome deck lists you’d like to share, post them in the comments. See anything to change about the lists above, let everyone know about it down below!

Now get out there and jump into Modern!